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Should Arsenal consider selling Wilshere to Man City?

I do not really know how much truth there is in the Arsenal transfer rumours suggesting that the reigning Premier League champions Manchester City are going to attempt a transfer swoop for our England international star Jack Wilshere this summer.

But it would make sense in a way for City, who badly need to freshen up their aging squad as well as needing more home grown players to help them comply with the UEFA regulations for the Champions League. It looks like there is going to be a big rebuilding project at the Etihad and a Metro report reckons that our Jack is one of their main transfer targets.

My question is, what do the Arsenal fans think about all this?

Wilshere was once our jewel in the crown, but injury problems and some well publicised off field problems have tarnished his image and some Gooners seem to think he is a bit rubbish these days. So perhaps a nice big cash offer from Man City is just what we need.

I have my doubts though, despite Wilshere having another disappointing injury hit campaign. Before his latest spell on the sidelines, which was caused by a bad tackle and is not more evidence that he is injury prone, Wilshere was starting to remind us of just what a rare talent he has. I would hate to see him doing that for our Premier League rivals, especially the club that has raided our squad more than any other in recent years.

The Gunners are supposedly safe from having to sell our players now and Wilshere is just 23-years old and has plenty of years ahead of him. I understand people saying that Aaron Ramsey is currently the better player but what about when he is injured or out of form. Are we really ready to give up on Wilshere and let him go to Man City?

No we should not sell Wilshere, Walcott or Sczcesny. The FA is starting to decrease non home grown players from 17 to 13. We also need to play more of our academy players in the first team. Let City, Chelsea & Tottenham sweat as they have hardly any home grown players.

I dont want to sell Wilshere to anyone, to be honest. Sure, he’s not going to be the amazing midfielder we thought 4-5 years ago, but he’s still young. If he can manage to not get into duels with high risk of injury, he might become an excellent midfielder.

I’ve said it all along, even before Hodgson started playing him there; Wilshere is not an attacking midfielder, his terrier-like playstyle is similar to what Coquelin has, only Coquelin has realized he’s best when his focus is on defensive work and not rushing up. Wilshere to be reborn as a complete new player when he’s back! 😀

i agreed with everything you said until you said wilshere is not an attacking midfielder. He can be an excellent CM he has the tools to become a top player. he might not become world class like we thought but he can still be a very very good player. he has the ability to burst by players and glide by them which not many players can do (hazard, barkley etc). I see him as a cm who is in direct competition with AR16

There’s nothing defensive about Jack WIlsheres game at all so that idea you have is complete nonsense honestly. He’s a competitor and visibly more determined than some others but you can’t seriously mistake that for defensive acumen.

Jack is at his best moving forward in the final third of the pitch, his penetration in his running is his best characteristic. IMO he’s been a victim of an identity crisis whereby he doesn’t know what his best position is. It’s one of two, either b2b or CAM and he would make much greater strides should he choose one and tailor his game to it.

With regards to selling him: I find it laughable that fans on here have the audacity to say let’s sell a player of his ability given how we continually clamor for more quality players. How about we just identify the weak areas of the squad and ADD what’s needed.

You’re honestly telling me we should be concerning ourselves with potential sales of Jack and Theo when Diaby, Campbell, Poldi, Sanogo, Flamini are still on the books? Replace those wasted wages and INVEST in the bloody team. There’s 15-20mil plus 250k per week wages there that offer the team nothing. Chuck them out and buy a Schneiderlin and Dybala for 50mil plus 150k per week, which will be about a 30-40mil investment out the clubs reserves. There’s improvement, ADDING quality to quality, not replacing it.

can’t believe I’m saying this but well said i agree with everything. it actually irritates me that people say jack is a dm or will be become one when he has amazing attacking talent (/potential). but i don’t see him as a cam i see him as a cm, he is not good with his back to goal he’s better when he can see whats in front of him then drive past players and play 1-2’s that start attacks.

I agree with every word. We need to think who would be a valuable squad player not let’s get rid of every player who presently doesn’t cut it for a 1st team slot. We are so unused to having a bit of depth we tend to forget what this actually means. We can argue all we want whether the likes of Theo, Danny and now Jack are 1st teamers but it will be difficult to convince me they are not very decent squad options. The trick of course is persuading them that being a squad player at Arsenal is a good thing for them because they could all probably get 1st team football somewhere else.

Wilshere is hyped up because he plays for a big club as Arsenal,He would just warm the bench at man City and would look average in any middle table club.
Some do like him and I like him as a arsenal player but I must say that him playing for us make more harm to the team than good.
I repeat that if we had been playing Oz and Caz with Lecoq inthe middle from the start of the season,we would be on top of the league.
I would say sell him but Wenger will never do and who gonna pay much for him since he is always injured and not so good at any specific position.

Since his break through season I haven’t been overly impressed with Jack. I know he has been hampered by injury but so has Ramsey, who has been a great player for the last 2/3 seasons. I think it depends on two things:

1) What our tactical approach is going to be; there seems to have been a transition away from possession football to more direct/setpiece play. If this is going to continue I don’t think it suits Jack.

2) The offer. If they were to offer ~40-50million, I would find it hard to say not.

Have heard rumours that Juve like Wilshere and to use him to knock down the astronomical price on Pogba would be amazing. Highly unlikely but gotta dream big and having Pogba boss our midfield would be a beautiful sight to behold!

I would sell him in a flash. Undoubtedly talented, Jack hasn’t progressed at all and seems to have gone backwards if anything. Let City have him. He can run around in their midfield bursting forward before running down a blind alley or falling over then sitting on the floor with his arms in the air. 10 goals in his whole arsenal career.. 16 assists in 130 games.. Not good enough.. With regret Jack, you’re fired

yeah.. how dare he not progress while constantly injured!!
i’m still furious with Ramsey for not developing in the period after his leg break when on the sidelines! shame on them both!
It’s almost as though he was tricking us when it took him an extended period in the first-team to start making progress..
The nerve of professional footballers to not be able to find form instantly upon return or dominate midfield’s instantly is simply beyond me!!

you were making the point Wilshere couldnt progress while injured and thus should not be sold. I referenced keeping Diaby around then since its also not his fault he keeps getting injured. Take what you want from it

How did we almost allow Coquilin contract run out? r we wenger?? i used 2say; he’s our best if not only defensive midfielder n was always hurt when i saw flamini doing nothing while we loan out quality.

at 23 he has years ahead of him the utd match in which he got injured showed he was getting better and looking a bigger threat this season than he had in previous. we need him to realise he is better in the deep lying role similar to le coq, england play him there and he was able to spend a bit more time on the ball allowing him to play brilliant passes such as the ox goal vs scotland
If he could make the permanent switch to the deep lying midfield role it would benefit arsenal and england he could also make cameos off the bench in attacking roles like he did in the FA cup final

With the FA planning to increase the number of home grown players in a squad of 25 from eight to twelve. If we are to sell any of our home grow players. I would hold on to our players until this takes effect and watch their price sky rocket.

There is no way we should we should sell Wilshere, whilst he has been injury prone and disappointing in recent seasons. He is a fantastic player and is Arsenal through and through. He joined Arsenal as a kid, he is impetuous and sometimes over aggressive. These tracts will diminish as he matures. We will see the best of him next season, he is creative, a good dribbler and is a great tackler. He needs to be guided more on the pitch, that is where you need a strong captain like Adams or Vieira to get these type of players in shape. Wilshere will respect these tough players, and we will then see the best of him.

“we will see the best of him next season” is what we say every season. Paid to smoke & get injured. That wouldn’t be acceptable at any top club, sorry. Just because he’s homegrown doesnt mean he gets his own set of rules. I forget his salary, but Wilshere is just a squad player in truth, and I really hope the club doesn’t start paying him too much at a point.

I’d rather not see him go to another Prem club, but only a prem club would overpay for him. He’s done close to nothing in a long time and still holds value because he is English. Truth is he’s average and doesn’t even challenge for our starting XI. There’s no need to sell him this summer though so might as well keep him around for one more season. If a club comes with a good offer though then its best to cash in. He’s quickly becoming the nxt Diaby. Around for a month or two, then gone for the rest of the season. Difference is Diaby would actually put in good performances those few games. And another difference is that Diaby respected Wenger, which Jack doesn’t seem to have. Nor does he have any for the arsenal fans if you follow some of his social media. He cares more about standing up to his “haters” than his actual football. Such a frustrating player, its a shame he got injured so much but its even more of a shame he was never truly focused on his football either. Would rather give a chance to Crowley or Zelalem.

Yep.. Let’s ditch one of our most promising prospects ever from the youth academy who’s been inhibited by injury, and give a shot to the next ones.
Wish we’d done that with Ramsey and sold him off quickly. Maybe given a shot to Lansbury now that Lansbury’s just ripping it up!!

thing about young prospects is that the majority of them don’t make the grade. Most people are still living off his Barcelona game. TONS of players have surpassed him since then. Only reason Man City would want Wilshere is to meet a quota, that says it all. And for all the crap Ramsey get in truth he only had one bad season, which was 11-12 season. Wilshere has hardly lifted a finger since 10-11 season and people still pretend he is the next big thing.

Yes, Ramsey had a bad season. He had multiple games (near on a season worth) strung together in which he was afforded the time and patience in the first-team to find form, confidence and ultimately develop and improve.
How are you not seeing the parallel I’m inferring??

because Wilshere isn’t ever going to have a season where he stays fit long enough. He’s always in & out, unreliable, and honestly, the amount of oustanding games he’s had for us can be counted on one hand probably. You want to challenge for titles and do well in Europe, yet you also want Arsenal to pay high wages to some of the most injury prone players in all of England. It doesn’t make sense. City doesn’t do it, Chelsea doesn’t do it, Bayern is probably the only top team that does it and thats because they can afford to when playing in a weaker league, and has 10 other top class midfielders to fill in. Lets go tell Crowley & Zelalaem they wont get a chance at Aresnal because Jack Wilshere will eventually, at some point in his career come good for us before he retires. Seriously, when Wilshere wants a contract extension its going to be very interesting to see how that goes because for me he hasn’t earned it.

Ok, well i’m respectfully hopeful that he will overcome his injury problems but by no means is it guaranteed. I cannot pretend to say for certainty he will because i’m aware it’s a gamble. Nor can you say he never will. I just personally believe the upside to whether he does is worth the gamble.
Now as for talent. I disrespectfully disagree. Name an element of his game he has never shown promise in?

He has great vision( Cazorla and Ozil’s are better still), and can play nice 1-2’s sometimes but thats about it. Okay, he has that “surge” forward but about 75% of the time he is just giving possession back to the opponents, and not even drawing a foul most of the time either. The other 25% of the time he’s letting opponents make hard challenges on him, and if you’re injury prone you probably have to be smarter than that.

Sorry but what are you basing this on?? Did you watch his training sessions? Were you there with him in rehab from injury? Have you worked with him closely, professionally in any regard??

Or are you possibly basing this upon the media’s depiction of him based on a few snaps of his personal life blown way out of proportion?
But by all means draw conclusions from the ‘daily star’ or ‘caughtoffside..’ Disregard all the managers, coaches and other players comments about his insane work-rate and determination as a footballer…

determination as a footballer yet he’s constantly caught up more in being dramatic on the pitch than acutally putting a good performance in. Seriously, Wilshere does stupid things like push players and tries to headbutt Fellaini (wtf?). Its ridiculous to watch considering he usually plays badly in these games to top it off. Maybe I’m wrong though, maybe he is focused but just doesn’t make the grade is all. Either way he’s not good enough for the Arsenal XI.

Yes, and gerrard stomps a player, Flamini threatened a player, Giroud’s headbutted before, Matic got a stupid red… Players have moments of complete lunacy but it’s usually the passionate players!

The Gerrard red card, as mind-blowing as it was showed his mentality, his captain’s mentality. We were soft as butter in the first half and i’m going to lead by example and f@#k them up!! Haha… Stomping a player is ridiculous but it shows how hot he came in!!

It won’t let me reply above. But how can you claim his passing isn’t up to scratch and then compare his vision to one of the world’s best? (Ozil)
Marking i will agree with, his ball retention and decision making definitely needs work. But these are elements which improve with game time and experience. Technically and Mentally though he is immense in my opinion. Sure you can say Wilshere had a bad game, and there’s been plenty. But how often can you say wow, wilshere really disappeared, wilshere just gave up, or Wilshere just didn’t try?

OT any reference to Wilshere’s ‘Off field exploits’ are blown waaaaaay out of proportion…
Smoking, yes is bad, but sorry so’s eating a cheeseburger or a night out having 5+ beers… It’s just socially more acceptable, and doesn’t grab as many headlines.

Anyone talks of Wilshere who’s worked closely with him as a player, as a footballer, references his extreme work-rate and determination. He has undoubted talent, the potential to have a complete game and if he can overcome his injury problems we will have a real gem.

FFS a few seasons of actual positive transfer activity and now it’s actually being discussed selling theo and jack… What’s going on!? If he wants an extended run in the first team he will have to surpass Ozil, Coquelin, Ramsey and Cazorla. If not he’s at the bare minimum an energetic player who will drive forward and make tackles off the bench.
I will say this… And i’m not pretending to be psychic, but if patience had not been shown with Coquelin and Ramsey imagine our midfield now… Hindsight is brilliant but the people who work with these players on a daily basis may actually know what they’re doing and when Wenger and Co. actually rate players as highly as they do they may see a few things we don’t…

Rosicky is our energetic player who drives forward and makes tackles, (and his tackling is far superior to Wilshere’s even). Eventually Wilshere is going to want a salary increase to stay, and at that point I’ll be wondering why he should get one to mainly serve as a squad player who is mostly injured. You exaggerate Wilshere’s abilities. He usually has 1 good game a year & then thats it. As for the smoking , it has more to do with respect. Wenger keeps giving him chances, hell, Wenger ruined the first half of the season playing a 4-1-4-1 formation, and putting Ozil out wide, which if you didnt notice was SPECIFICALLY done for Wilshere. He gets everything done for him, and doesnt perform and doesnt show Arsene the respect he deserves since Wenger has continuously backed him time after time. I’m seriously running out of patience with him and would much rather see a youngster given a chance instead.

Ok.. So to summarize your arguments.
We have a squad player nearly a decade his senior who already plays his role.

And the manager, a pretty good one at that, actually thought he had enough talent in a particular position to warrant a formation change and shifting our elite play-maker out of position… Hmm
I completely sympathise with your impatience considering how effective other managers have been when implementing a formation change (Rodgers, LVG)
You’ve referenced above Ramsey needing an entire season of patience and sub-par performances but Wilshere was given how many games this season??

And yes, the disrespect of being caught twice with a ciggie!! he should’ve been flogged out back with a hose.
Honest question. What percentage of footballers do you think would’ve tried cocaine?

Wilshere has been given 11-12,12-13,13-14, and now 14-15 season. I’m not blaming Jack for getting injured, but thats life and thats how it is. And do you seriosuly think Wenger changed the whole formation because he thinks wilshere is “that good”? Dont be naive, you know AW has always favored some players over others, and thats what it comes down to. AW put blind faith in Wilshere the first half of the season and it didnt pay off, because the team played some of their worst games in YEARS, we were really bad earlier this season if you dont remember, had to be some of the worst football of the Wenger era. You’re basing your argument on sheer hope that Wilshere miraculously has a world class season for us when the evidence of that is one game against Barcelona. Yaya Sanogo scored 4 goals against Benfica, based on that, I say he is going to become world class…

Sorry, but you were the one who blamed the formation change on him, not me. If you read my comment I said ‘to summarize your argument’
Don’t flip-flop is it Wenger’s fault for placing faith in him? Or wilshere’s fault for not living up to that faith in his short return?
and please find a comment of me ever referencing his game at Barcelona or Sanogo for that matter… And don’t tell me what my f$%king argument is with a world class season! That’s in your head. Don’t put words in my mouth to use your go to counter point that i’ve never mentioned.
My main argument is that people who work close with him see something special in him, i’m basing this on countless interviews, other players opinions and my general analysis of qualities he shows while on the pitch.
I’m also drawing comparisons with players that the majority of fans have deemed not good enough but after patience and an extended run in the first team have developed into key players.

If you wish to counter that point please do. But pick a side, is it his injuries that you believe with ultimately inhibit him, or his lack of talent and class that will never shine through?

When did i flop-flip about Wenger. Im merely stating facts, Wenger built the first half of the season around him and it didnt work out. There are probably a ton of reasons behind why it failed, and Wilshere not being as good as wenger thought he was is probably one of them. at the same time there are 10 more players on the pitch, so no im not saying the entire first half of the season is down to Wenger and Wilshere.

And your sources for why Jack is good enough are simply biased. You really think people from the club are going to say anything bad about ANY of the players?

And pick a side? I’m making multiple points. Sorry if you can’t keep up but no need to start cursing and getting angry.

‘And do you seriosuly think Wenger changed the whole formation because he thinks wilshere is “that good”?’ ….
So i’ll repeat is it Wenger’s fault for placing faith in him or Wilshere’s fault for not living up to that faith?

and the reason I brought up the Barcelona game is because Wilshere would be irrelevant at the moment if it weren’t for that game. To this day he is still living off that one game, and whether you know it or not it is effecting your analysis of him. Please reference a series of games where Wilshere was actually a top player for us?

No, no he would not.
Why would Wenger have thrown a player so young against one of the best midfield’s the world has ever seen?.. Clearly it was his evaluation of his game, his training and his abilities that he thought capable of putting in a good performance.
As I’ve said multiple times and tried to infer via parallel’s with Ramsey, no his performances have not been good, and no he has not put in the performances he is capable of. My argument is that his injuries have inhibited him and he has not been afforded an extended run of games in which form, confidence and ultimately development can occur.

No there is no Tick, Tock for once which is actually great!!
Arteta, Flamini, Coquelin, Ramsey, Cazorla, Ozil, Rosicky, and potentially Ox and Wilshere when fit fighting for three (in some cases 4) positions!!

Now i’m not for one moment suggesting that this midfield is incapable of improvement. But if we’re to thin out the squad is Wilshere the first name on that list you would look to replace??

and you clearly dont get what im saying about the cigarette situation. Dont give a crap he smokes but he purposely does it at this point. Media overreacts, I agree, but it looks bad on the club, and most of all it looks bad on Wenger who keeps backing him up time and time again. Its simply disrespectful!

I think nearly everyone agrees on that – but surely the right question is whether he is good enough to be in the squad. You don’t ditch all your players who don’t presently have a claim on a 1st team place.

how are we sacrificing Coquelin for Wilshere?
I’m sure you would’ve said the same thing when Coquelin was on loan at Freiburg or struggling to get a game for Charlton…

(due to my other comments on this thread actually being taken seriously i.e. Lansbury for Ramsey (duh!) i do feel the need to point out i’m not slating Coquelin, merely suggesting that players are sometimes not what they appear…)

Yes, of course we should consider selling Wilshere to City, the operative word being `consider`.
Yes, we should consider Walcott moving to Merseyside (would do him good). These are professionals who are on the move all the time in this modern world there is no such thing as allegiance any more, they rob from us, we rob from others. Looking at the Arsenal squad I`d say Wilshire, Walcott, Szczesny, Mertesacker, Diaby ,Sontoga(?), Arteta, Flamini, Ramsey (to Swansea?) maybe even Ozil,(although I doubt it) could be on the move.
I`m sure some financial genius will tot that lot up.

There is no reason to sell him…sure he has been injured frequently in the past 2 seasons but I would still give him one more season to prove himself. On talent alone he is among our top 5 players of this squad hands down (Özil, Sanchez, Cazorla, Ramsey and him):
1)We our in a strong position financially so no need to sell
2)He will never be all time goal scorer but if he gets healthy and starts playing more and more and even get a full season unscathed under is belt he could be something special
3)He has the passion, the love and the drive to be a captain and would be a great one with maturity
4) Can be one of the all time greats if he is consistent!
5)Wenger has put so much into him every time he is healthy Le Prof is willing to alter is formation just to have him feature in the side
One more season and if he doesn’t deliver than fine but not this offseason!

We have no reason to sell Jack. He is not taking up squad space or eating away a huge wage. He has quality, still has plenty of space to grow as a player and now in a more balanced team will hopefully not be rushed back in and get injured again. Selling to a rival would be silly – why strengthen opposition? I can promise you playing at City he’d start improving in the way all the coaches say he would. I wouldn’t want that.

The idea of selling Wilshere is silly. At the least he’s good squad player. At best he could become the B2B role in the starting 11. No reason to sell that.

NEVER say “OUR JACK” cause being sentimental and emotionally attached to former stars attracted pain and rehab for letting go of Fabregas and van persie, and for what its worth jack never tried to earn the No 10 jersey and even Walcott and i have funny feeling that once they wore the jersey they would be epitome of arsenal’s play and vision and dreamed of winning major trophies, now look they won’t even make it to U21 SIDE LOL!

Honestly to be fair to Jack Wilshere,the lad is passionate and loyal to Arsenal fc and i can’t believe our fans would turn against him just because he got injured,Thiago Alcantara is also having injury problems,and i don’t see fans turn against him like Arsenal fans do,Ramsey broke is leg and we everyone was asking for the coach to get ride of him,after last season everyone was like Ramsey is the class,you have to support your player because player’s like santi Carzorla are not getting younger,Arsenal fans need to think and realize that Wilshere is a quality player who’s disturb by injury and we don’t have lot of loyal player’s in the team,so why sell one of the loyal and committed ones..as for me i believe Wilshere would turn good but needs support of Arsenal fans.I would tell you that when we sell him to Man city,e would probably get better medical attention and you guys would start booing him if he turns good for them and you start calling him traitor,am an arsenal fan but am disappointed that the rest of the fans are forgetting how we struggle to get to where we are and we have to support our team no matter what..you all put yourself in there position…